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From bigorexia to bingeing: the rise of eating disorders in young men and boys

The number of teenage boys seeking help for anorexia and bulimia are higher than ever — so why is it still treated as a girls’ disease?

Emma Woolf

May 8 2017, 12:01am, The Times

Gym workouts can lead to compulsive exercise and extreme fastingDARDESPOT/GETTY IMAGES

Mark clearly recalls his first day in treatment at an eating disorder clinic. “I was sitting in the therapy room, surrounded by teenage girls, listening to a nurse explain why your periods stop when you have anorexia,” he says. “I’ve never had periods — I’m a 15-year-old boy. It’s this kind of girlie environment whenever I try to get help, and it reinforces the message that I’m a weirdo with a feminine illness.”

Mark’s experience is a reminder that no other mental illness is as “gendered” as an eating disorder. He has spent three years in and out of inpatient clinics, but they simply weren’t set up for boys. The lack of male provision persists across educational and medical settings, with doctors, teachers and even…